Telecommunication operators in Kerala seem to be facing a stiff competition from an unlikely source — illegal telephone exchanges — which are gradually expanding its base in the northern districts of the State.
Officials in the Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring Cell (Term Cell) said they had already identified a dozen of such parallel exchanges operating from little cubicles or private residences or shops in Malappuram, Wayanad, and Kozhikode districts and also in Karnataka.
These exchanges, functioning clandestinely and coordinated by a Gulf-based racket, are converting several thousands of international calls from West Asia into local calls using the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.
These exchanges help bypassing the international telephony operator's gateway in India using Internet before redirecting them to local numbers. The Indian contact only pays for a local call.
‘‘Investigations have shown that the SIM cards for operating such centres are being distributed by a Malappuram-based racket headed by one Sabeel, on a revenue-sharing basis. Besides, it coordinates the purchase of equipment and impart training for operating these centres, which rake in lakhs of rupees by taking advantage of the price arbitrage between international and local calls,’’ V. Raghunandan, Deputy Director General, Telecom Enforcement, said.
To escape monitoring by enforcement agencies, they used several clandestine techniques such as SIM rotation, SIM swapping, and IMEA swapping. They keep changing the location of these centres in every couple of months, besides splitting the operations of a single centre into several locations simultaneously, he said.
According to the official, the rackets had deployed agents in the Gulf for selling prepaid coupons using which people could make international calls to the State at a relatively cheaper rate.
‘‘The Gulf-based smuggling rackets and hawala operators should be making use of these exchanges in a massive way as the calls through this route cannot be monitored,’’ the official said. In view of the findings, the Telecom Enforcement officials were slated to meet the key officials of Kerala police as well as the Intelligence Bureau State Police and the Intelligence Bureau.
A dozen parallel exchanges operating in
three districts have been identified.
